NUS Law Research Fellow wins 2022 David D. Caron Prize

Dr Chen Yu was awarded the 2022 David D. Caron Prize by the American Society of International Law (ASIL) for her paper titled “International Adjudication as Interactional Law-Making”, which was presented at ASIL’s Midyear Meeting Research Forum. The Prize was announced at the Forum and the formal presentation will be held at the society’s annual meeting, to be held in Washington, D.C, in March 2023.

Dr Yu was appointed as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow generally within NUS Law for Academic Year 2021/2022 and re-appointed for Academic Year 2022/2023. On her win, she said: “I’m very grateful for NUS Law’s support throughout the preparation of the paper. The Law Faculty generously offers a very independent research environment for me to explore research ideas, and I received many helpful comments from senior colleagues on the paper.”

Her paper examines the extent to which states incorporate Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunals’ interpretation of fair and equitable treatment (FET) into their design of treaty FET clauses. It collects data on “FET elements” from arbitral awards and treaties and examines whether the elements were incorporated in treaties after being identified by tribunals. The empirical findings confirm the profound influence of arbitral decisions on the evolution of treaty FET standards to the extent that most of the elements appeared in treaty FET clauses after being identified by tribunals. On the other hand, the empirical results also reveal the clear divergence between treaties and the ISDS jurisprudence in the enumeration of FET elements, which may intensify states’ dissatisfaction with ISDS. This paper also conducts economy and element-specific analysis and finds that, compared to developing countries, developed countries have a higher tendency to incorporate FET elements identified by tribunals.

The Research Forum is the centrepiece of the annual ASIL Midyear Meeting, and it highlights new work in the field of international law. The David D. Caron Prize goes to the best paper presented at the ASIL Research Forum by either a student enrolled in a graduate programme, or a person who has received a graduate degree not more than five years prior to the date of the Research Forum at which the paper is presented.

About Dr Chen Yu

Dr Chen Yu received her PhD degree from McGill University’s Faculty of Law. Her thesis, with a specific focus on the reform of the international investment law, examines the limits of international adjudication in advancing the legalisation of international regimes. She is interested in a broad range of topics relating to international economic law and the interdisciplinary study of international law, particularly international investment and trade law, international adjudication and international relations. During her PhD study at McGill Law, she also worked as research assistant, teaching fellow and associate supervisory fellow, participating in various research and teaching programmes.